OPULENCE AND STRIP MALLS

Westside, Ortega and Murray Hill

The Westside covers some of the wealthiest and the poorest sections of Jacksonville, sometimes butted right up against each other. There are pockets of high crime where the Westside and Northside meet, and the landscape in many places is dominated by strip malls (and strip clubs), but there’s a lot to love about the Westside, especially in the distinct commercial districts of two of Jacksonville’s oldest neighborhoods: Murray Hill and Ortega.

Murray Hill hugs the Riverside/Avondale area just west of where U.S. 17 meets I-10. Established at the turn of the century, the neighborhood has a traditional town center with buildings dating back to the 1930s. Both Edgewood Bakery and Dreamette Ice Cream Parlor, which opened in the 1940s, continue to draw crowds of locals out to satisfy their sweet tooth. The Murray Hill Theatre, once a premier movie house, now operates as a Christian music venue. You’ll also find some of the best pizza in the whole area right here at locally owned Moon River Pizza, which opened its Edgewood digs more than 10 years ago.

Some of Jacksonville’s hoi polloi live in Ortega, a mostly waterfront community bound by the St. Johns River to the east and the Ortega River to the north and west. Considered one of the safest neighborhoods in Jacksonville, this little peninsula has the feeling of a place lost in time. Plantation homes sit on quiet streets shaded by old moss-covered live oaks, and children ride their bikes and walk to school. You’ll find quaint shops and restaurants in Ortega Village, a small shopping center with a view of Cortez Park, located well off any major thoroughfare. Carter’s Pharmacy has occupied the same building here since 1955, and is the only pharmacy in the city with a lunch counter, known as “The Fountain” for its roots as a popular neighborhood soda fountain.

Other sections include Lakeshore, where you’ll find Marina Mile, a large playground for the rich with yacht clubs and recreational boating supply stores, along the Ortega River. There’s also a dense accumulation of show bars and adult novelty stores further inland, and the longest-running alternative nightclub in the city, Eclipse.